The Racket Doctor:
Just the Remedy for Finest Products, Service

'TRY THIS, YOU MAY LIKE IT'
The Racket Doctor, Inc., The Racket Doctor Express and The
String Surgeon created by Randy Kramer, grew out of his
addictions for tennis and racquetball — and after 45 years
he’s still jazzed as ever about all racquet sports.

Randy’s first contact with tennis was at age of 14 in the
summer of 1962. His track coach gave him a Jack Kramer
(no relation) tennis racquet and urged, “try this, you may like
it.” Randy was hooked. He started picking up balls for a local
tennis instructor in exchange for lessons. This led to a job
for the next four years at the Griffith Park tennis shop, a
long-standing favorite among L.A. area players. Owned by
Fred Moll, the shop provided Randy with a priceless learning
experience about tennis and running a business. At the time,
autograph racquets sold for $29.99, a Victor Imperial Gut
string job was $18.00, and the minimum wage was $1.25
per hour.

Graduating high school in 1967, Randy joined the U.S.
Marines for three years, including his final year of duty as a
sergeant in a rifle company with the 1st Marines in Vietnam.
Discharged in 1970, Randy returned to the Griffith Park area,
enrolled at a community college and started a racquet stringing
business from the back of his car. One day, he spotted a
van bearing the logo, “The Rug Doctor.” That’s it! The name
of his future store would be The Racket Doctor.

GROWING HIS BUSINESS
Randy rented a tiny room for $50 a month in the back of a
retail store in Atwater Village, attending college during the
day and stringing racquets at night. It wasn’t long before
customers were asking for other items — shoes, racquets,
balls, clothing. Soon he began to develop relationships with
suppliers for inventory, and an extremely loyal clientele
helped him with small loans to grow his business.

For as long as Randy has been in business, he has started
each day with the goal of earning and returning the loyalty
of his customers by offering the best products and service at
the best prices, while also advocating for trade practices that
benefit the consumer.

Randy’s business quickly grew from that tiny back room to half the building, and before long he purchased the entire
building. when you’re visiting The Racket Doctor today, look in the back right corner — the room where the business
started is still there.

STRINGING SERVICE ‘WHILE YOU WAIT’
With racquet sports popularity among baby-boomers sweeping the nation in the 1970s and ’80s, The Racket Doctor, then a new corporation, began attracting customers from a 100-mile radius. They came for the promise of an unbelievable selection of products, service and prices. And they came for Southern California’s first “while you wait” appointment stringing — a service the store continues to this day.

Semi-annual sales in February and October evolved into
rituals with customers lining up around the block. The store’s
reputation continued to grow – first nationally and then
internationally. The staff grew to nearly 50 employees who
served a seemingly endless SoCal clientele, as well as
tourists and traveling business people who stopped in to visit
the store that was becoming known as best in the nation.

WEATHERING TOUGH TIMES
Despite a slow-down in the racquet sports market beginning
in the late 1980s, The Racket Doctor, with its competitive
prices and great service, continued to thrive. However, the
next few years would not be easy. Manufacturers, acting out
of fear in a declining market, began pressuring The Racket
Doctor and other competitive retailers to maintain minimum
prices. The result was the emergence of Minimum Price and
Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies – in other words,
vertical price-fixing. Major manufacturers informed The
Racket Doctor and other competitive retailers they could
no longer receive new products if they continued to sell at
discount prices.

The Racket Doctor refused to give in. From 1989 to 1993 the
store purchased racquets only from other retailers and distributors
— at higher wholesale prices. “Because we ran an efficient
business, because we believed in the free market and
competition, and because we were determined to maintain
our trust with the consumer, we continued to sell our racquets
at among the lowest retail prices in the country,” Randy
Kramer recalls proudly.

“This squeezed our profit margins to almost nothing,” he
adds. “In many cases, we were retailing racquets at literally
pennies more than we were paying for them. It was brutal,
but we survived and continued to grow.”

MR. KRAMER GOES TO WASHINGTON
Randy became involved with the Consumer’s Union and,
with backing from a group of retailers in several markets,
he became active in a national movement to support free
enterprise and price competition.

He staged a major offensive on national TV, appearing on
“Good Morning America” and “The Today Show” hosted by
Bryant Gumbel. And he built his defense using an intimidating
force of his own — the State of California’s Attorney
General.

The Coalition Against Price-Fixing was formed. With support
from its members, Randy lobbied Congress for the passage
of s.429, The Consumer Protection Against Price Fixing Act
of 1991. The Coalition was successful in the Senate, but
the bill did not become law.

“This was a terrible blow to consumers and many hard
working retailers,” Randy explains. “We survived by
continuing to buy wholesale on the open market while still
reselling at retail prices below the prevailing price levels.”

POLICIES SOFTEN — WITH RESTRICTIONS
In the mid-1990s most racquet manufacturers began to
soften their isolation policies and restored sales to The
Racket Doctor, with restrictions applied only on advertising.
Tennis racquets could be sold for any price as long as
costs were not advertised in traditional mediums such as
newspapers, TV, radio, flyers, etc. Some policies also did
not permit showing prices in store windows or quoting
prices over the phone.

Despite the restrictions, business at The Racket Doctor
continued to grow and thrive. Randy forged ahead with making
improvements in the store, while also keeping up with
changing trends in racquet sports and adding new products
to meet customer requests. even the most popular “big-box”
sporting goods stores were no match for The Racket Doctor’s
huge inventory, expertise and superior service.

TEMPORARY SETBACK
However, on July 13, 2006, a well-known maker of the
hottest selling tennis racquets at the time filed a lawsuit in
federal court, attempting to block further sales of its product
because The Racket Doctor would not raise prices. “We had
supported that company for over 30 years,” Randy recalls.
Although they had broken no laws, other dealers were sued
as well by this manufacturer and forced to settle due to the
high cost of court litigation. Temporarily, at least, corporate
intimidation was winning. Aware that expenses of time and
money would be substantial, Randy pressed ahead and
began to prepare for trial.

THE FINAL BATTLE — CASE DISMISSED!
“This was the final battle,” Randy explains. “Losing in court
meant that consumers and small businesses would lose the
value of competition.” Just before the trial was to begin, the
case was dismissed with prejudice favoring Randy Kramer
and The Racket Doctor, Inc.

Despite this victory, Randy points out that “consumers
today still have less opportunity to benefit from competition
because price and advertising policies prevent true competition.
Some corporations now have their own stores, both
retail and outlets, selling direct to consumers at their
suggested retail prices.”

BEST SERVICE, PRODUCTS, PRICES
“The Racket Doctor has never needed to sell tennis racquets
for the full suggested retail price,” Randy says. “As long as
our customers continue to vote with their dollars for the best
service and products at the best prices, we’ll continue to
offer just that.

“We’re not getting as rich as some of our competitors, and
we’re working harder than all of them. But we sleep well
knowing that we didn’t shake down our hard-working customers
so that we can be lazy and greedy.

“On behalf of the entire staff at The Racket Doctor, we thank
our many thousands of customers for nearly a half-century
of patronage and support!”

Owner Randy Kramer,
1970s

Advertising, 1972

“On behalf of the entire staff at The Racket Doctor, we thank
our thousands of customers for nearly a half-century of
patronage and support!”

RANDY KRAMER, OWNER

Store construction, 1970s

Tennis players flock to the Anniversary Sale, 1980s

Anniversary Sale

Randy lobbies
Congress against
price fixing

The Racket Doctor’s dedicated staff

Birthdays and special occasions celebrated in style

The most popular “big-box”
stores are no match
for The Racket Doctor’s
huge inventory, expertise
and superior service.